Hold fast…
Fix your thoughts upon Jesus… For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end… Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 3.1, 14; 10.23)
This week I am in Albania, the first country in history to officially declare itself an atheist nation (1946). This was not an empty declaration of the state. It was backed up by the destruction of worship spaces of any faith and the ruthless persecution, including the execution of anyone professing faith or guilty of assembly. Museums narrate these nightmare decades with vivid and oppressive detail.
As I walked the streets of Tirana, I wondered: Would I be faithful in such a context? Would I “cave in” or “stand up?” Would I capitulate or challenge? Would I surrender or lead? Would I isolate or gather?
On such occasions, I turn to the Scriptures, and what I learn again is that the correspondence within the New Testament contains a distinctive focus and a singular challenge.
The distinctive focus is on the uniqueness and supremacy of Jesus Christ, the Reconciler, Redeemer, Reigning Lord, and Returning King.
The singular challenge is: “Believers in Jesus Christ should worship, live and love like believers.” no matter our circumstances. In fact, I believe the Scriptures admonish us that our alarms and our adversities are irrelevant to the heart determined to have a first-love faithfulness to Christ.
Consider this: the book of Hebrews was written to Christians who were beset by difficult circumstances and besieged by impending tribulation that loomed on the horizon. This letter was sent to encourage those tempted by their circumstances to give up their faith and abandon the distinctiveness of a Christian lifestyle. The central message of the letter is simple: “There is no one like Jesus... therefore hold fast to Him.”
He is God’s last word...
He is the Heir of all things...
He is the creator of the universe...
He reflects God’s glory...
He is the great High Priest...
He is the supreme and final atonement for sin…
He is the great Pastor who understands us completely.
Therefore, live like followers of Jesus
and HOLD FAST TO HIM!
Or consider this… Thirty-five years after the Ascension, Jesus Himself inspired the apostle John to write a letter to Christians in Ephesus who were facing turbulent times due to their city's apostasy (Revelation 2). They strove to uphold God’s truth and righteousness amidst a culture that had lost its moral and theological compass. Nevertheless, their passion for Jesus was in jeopardy, and they were exhorted to return to their first love. Jesus wants our hearts and devotion. He is not glorified by cold, stoic, and passionless people who can merely “gut things out.”
There is one thing and one thing only that God is looking for— an abiding and lifelong passion for Jesus Christ.
In God’s eyes, there are no excuses.
War, persecution,
Prosperity, achievement,
Poverty, illness,
Family needs, marital strife,
Personal “woundedness,” loneliness,
Ministry and/or the distractions of leadership
are all inadequate reasons for allowing our hearts to wane in our affection for Jesus Christ. Let me say it again: THERE ARE NO EXCUSES FOR ALLOWING OUR ONE HOLY PASSION FOR GOD—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—TO DIMINISH. God is responsible for our salvation, and we are responsible for our passion, love, and affection for Jesus.
After fourteen years of suffering under the Romanian Communist regime, pastor Richard Wurmbrand wrote, “There exists only one method of resisting brain-washing, and that is heart-washing. If the love of Jesus cleanses the heart, if the heart loves Him, you can resist all tortures” or successes or distractions or temptations.
So, I return to the question that prompts this week’s devotional: would I be found faithful in Christ if I were alive during the perilous decades Albanian believers were forced to live through? My answer is, “I don’t know.” What I do know is “as now, so then.” As I devote my heart to Him now, I will be cultivating a faith that might stand then… If I live now with a casual, easily distracted, shallow, culturally coopted faith, there will be little chance that I will have any desire to hold fast then.
How might I keep my passion for Christ that He might be my “first love,” — preeminent in all things? I can do no worse than to follow the first pattern of the Ephesians (see Acts 19):
they came to the cross,
they were filled with the Holy Spirit,
they gave serious attention to God’s Word,
they got rid of anything that displeased Him,
and they took decisive steps to put Jesus first.
I do not think that God expects me to do anything less…
Albanian saints— you who have gone before me— thank you for convicting me afresh: there is nothing more important than the deliberate and passionate submission of
my affection,
my attention,
my ambition
my actions and
my associations
before the relentless love of my God.
as now, so then…
